Since the beginning of former Yugoslavia’s disintegration and the conflict that followed, NATO has clearly treated the Serbs as the enemy side – whether it was about the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia or Kosovo and Metohija. NATO bombed the Serbs in the Serbian Republic (Republika Srpska in 1994/1995), which has weakened its position before the negotiations in Dayton; it bombed the Serb positions in Croatia (1995.), enabling the Croatian military to destroy the Republic of Serbian Krajina and expel hundreds of thousands of Serbs; it bombed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro, in 1999), in alliance with the Kosovo Albanian Liberation army, and enabled the unilateral secession of Kosovo from Serbia. In these attacks, NATO killed thousands of Serbian civilians and soldiers, and damages in Serbia only exceed $ 30 billion. No NATO member has ever been sued for war crimes.
1992.
July 1992: NATO ships start monitoring developments in the Adriatic Sea as a way of implementing the UN armament embargo of the former Yugoslavia and the implementation of sanctions against Yugoslavia;
October 1992: AWACS airplanes began monitoring the zone over Bosnia declared as no-fly zone, the decision was directed against the Air Force and Air Defence (ViPVO) of the Republika Srpska Army (VRS); the Muslim forces – the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABiH) and the Croats – Croatian Defence Council (HVO) did not have any military aviation;
1993.
March 1993: NATO powers are expanded in the control of the no-fly zone over Bosnia-Herzegovina;
OPERATION “DENY FLIGHT”
April 12th 1993: NATO began the Operation Deny Flight (“Forbidden flight”) initially involving about 50 aircrafts, then up to 200, taking off from Italy or from the carrier in the Adriatic Sea; until December 1995, they registered almost 100,000 war airplanes and support aircrafts take- offs;
August 9th 1993: The NATO Council on the submission of the Military Committee adopts the operational options for the air strikes in Bosnia and Herzegovina; NATO gets wide powers that include air strikes, in coordination with UNPROFOR;
1994.
January 1994: at the summit in Brussels, the Alliance leaders have called for the implementation of air strikes as a form of participation in conflicts around Sarajevo and the protected zones in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
February 9th 1994: decision of the North Atlantic Council at the request of UN Secretary-General, to carry out air strikes on Serbian artillery positions around Sarajevo if heavy weapons are not withdrawn within 20 km in 10 days time;
February 28th 1994: in the first NATO military action against the VRS, four Serbian aircrafts were attacked; the UN report states that the fallen attack aircrafts J-21 called “Jastreb” (“hawk”) belonged to the Army of the Republika Srpska Air Force; UNPROFOR observers reported a landing of a “hawk” at the airport Udbina, Western magazines reported that following pilots were killed: Ranko Vukmirovic, Zvezdan Pesic, Goran Zaric;
April 10th 1994: in the late afternoon, two American F-16C attacked positions of the VRS Herzegovina Corps in the areas of Preljuča and Goli Vrh, 12 kilometers southwest of Gorazde; the UNPROFOR commander in Bosnia, General Michael Rose, requested close air support on the basis of reports of observers in Gorazde who reported about direct attacks on Muslim tanks by the VRS units; they didn’t give more accurate information about the results of these actions; according to the Western newspapers, the planes were guided by UN “observers” from Gorazde, who in fact were members of the British Army Special Forces – SAS (Special Air Service);
April 11th 1994: following the same procedure and with the same reasoning as the day before, two US Navy Corps fighter-bombers from the squadron F/A-18C VMFA-251 are sent from Aviano ; they threw three Mk.82 bombs on the Serb village of Bare (around Gorazde), two of which are not triggered; according to NATO statements, they destroyed a T-55 tank, three armored personnel carriers and a truck; Serbian military sources say they demolished two houses, two medical vehicles and killed two nurses;
April 15th 1994: between Sarajevo and Gorazde, the Air Force of Republika Srpska Army (PVO VRS) hit the French “etendard IVP” 16 squadron of the French Navy. Another aircraft of the same type flew from the carrier “Clemenceau” on the reconnaissance mission. A missile ground-air “Strela-2M” damaged heavily the tail of the plane; the pilot, Captain Commander Pierre Clara, thanks to his great experience, was able to return to the carrier;
April 16th 1994: General Rose again asked for close air support around Gorazde; 4 Assault OA-10A aircrafts of the U.S. Air Force, already in the air, received orders to carry out the attack on the Serbian forces; the attack is interrupted due to bad weather conditions and lack of fuel; according to some reports, one of the planes was hit and during its returning to Aviano fell into the sea, 5 km from the Italian coast; American official sources did not recognize the loss; soon after the departure of OA-10A to the Gorazde zone, came two “sea harrier FRS.1″ of the British Navy from 801 . naval squadron, from the aircraft carrier “Ark Royal”; flying low, below the clouds, they were trying to find a Serbian tank; the aircraft with the registration label XZ498, was hit by a ground-air missile; the pilot jumped on the territory controlled by the Muslims; after the loss of the “sea harrier”, NATO aircrafts returned to the base; the pilot looked for a shelter, along with UN observers in the locker of a bank in Gorazde;
August 5th 1994 before dawn: according to the UNPROFOR spokesperson, the helicopter “Puma” French Army was reportedly under fire and for that reason it returned to base in Kiseljak; late that afternoon, followed a NATO retaliation: air attack by four American OA-10A, 4 the British “Jaguar Mk. Ia”, 4 French “Mirage F-1CT” and 6 Dutch F-16A (2 in the reconnaissance version); According to official statements, bad weather and lack of intelligence support, minimized the effects of these actions, according to reports of Muslim radio stations, NATO airplanes threw bombs on the Muslim military forces and caused heavy casualties;
September 22nd 1994: American A-10A attacked a Serbian tank with a GAU-8/A gun; two British “Jaguar GR.1 from 41st squadron, threw two grenades; the cause was apparently the VRS fire on the French “blue helmets”; the VRS Main Staff argues that the NATO action was targeted at civilians in the village Dobraševići;
November 21st 1994: NATO conducted limited air strike on the Udbina airport; 39 American, Dutch, French and British aircrafts from four NATO air base in Italy took part in it; not showing of the Turkish planes was due to thick fog at the airport Gedi, from which they were leaving to operate tasks over the former Yugoslavia;
November 22nd 1994: two “Volkhov” rockets were fired near Otok on two “sea harrier” FRS.1 from 800th British naval squadron; the rockets did not hit the target and were self destroyed; this action of the Serbian Army of Krajina Force was provoked by the bombing of the Udbina airport;
November 23rd 1994: In the morning: at 10:30 am, 24 NATO aircrafts in retaliation (probably due to the fire on the “harrier”) attacked the Air Force of the Serbian Krajina Army (PVO SVK) positions near Krupa, Otok and Dvor; in the afternoon, other 32 airplanes participated in a renewed attack; the actions were carried out in synchronization with the actions of the regular Croatian Army ( HV), the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABiH) or more exactly the 5th Corps from Bihac; the members of the 5th ABiH Corps launched a major offensive on the Serbian forces (VRS with SVK units) managed to break the attacks;
November 23rd 1994 evening: on three occasions, at 7:05 pm, 8:20 pm and 9:45 pm, new NATO strikes took place on Serbian Krajina area Ripča, Krupa, Drvar and Petrovac (a part of Republika Srpska territory was also targeted); at the attacking aircrafts were fired missiles from the Air Force Defence system “cube”, the results of the PVO actions are unknown;
1995.
May 1995 : sporadic bombings were carried out on the Republika Srpska Army’s (VRS) ammunition storage ; as reprisal, some UN members were taken as hostages ; the bombings stopped almost immediately ;
June 2nd 1995 : The Serbian air defence shot down a « F-16C » with a missile system known as « cube » ; its pilot, Captain Scott O’Grady, survived after being catapulted from the aircraft ; after six days of hiding in the dense forest, he was extracted by the Marines, who were followed by the Republika Srpska Army forces, who did not attack because of the humanitarian reasons;
INVOLVEMENT IN “THE STORM”
In August 1995 at the beginning of the operation “Storm”, NATO provided indirect support to the units of the Croatian Army (HV); the exact list of targets was not announced, but it is known that NATO bombed call centers, radars, air defence systems, command posts, as well as the relays of the Serbian television ; aircrafts of the Croatian Air Force, MiG-21, also participated in the operation ;
OPERATION “DELIBERATE FORCE”
28th August 1995 : Artillery shells fell on the market in Sarajevo ; NATO accused the Republika Srpska Army and that was the reason for nearly three-weeks bombings of the Serbian positions (from August 30th to September 14th 1995, with only some interruptions) ; it was found out later that the shells were fired from Muslim positions as it was confirmed by Jasushi Akashi, the UN representative;
August 30th – September 20th 1995 : the Operation “Deliberate force“ is carried out; the planning of the operation « Deliberate Force » practically began in September 1994 when NATO defence ministers, at a meeting in Spain, explored the use of air force in the war in former Yugoslavia ; The operation « Deny Flight » had no bigger impact on the mainland operations ; the operation « Deliberate Force » was aimed to hit, first of all, the Republika Srpska Army forces in the so-called UN Security Zones (Sarajevo and Gorazde) and the heavy weapons, artillery, tanks, command posts, communication lines, ammunition storages and other facilities and tools of the Republika Srpska Army ; the operation « Dead Eye » was simultaneously initiated with the aim to disable the Air Defence system of the Republika Srpska Army ; from 3515 aircraft take-offs, the Americans made 2318 (or 65,9%)of them ; United Kingdom 326 take-offs or 9.3% ; France 284 (8.1%) and the Netherlands – 198 take-offs (5.6 %) ; other NATO member states had a symbolic role: Turkey 78 take-offs (2.2%), Germany 59 (1.7%), Italy 35 (1.0%), Spain 12 (0.3%) and other countries made 109 aircraft take-offs or 3.1% ; the NATO forces carried out 96 air reconnaissance flights, that represents 2.7% of the total number of flights ;
Shooting down of the French “Mirage 2000N-K2“: the French “Mirage 2000N-K2″ was shot down near Pale probably by a “9K32 “Strela-2”; NATO officially recognized only the loss of that one aircraft; numerous attempts to rescue the crew failed; General Ratko Mladic decided to free the pilots after three months and at the insistence of the FRY’s leadership;
The ending of the campaign: September 10th, NATO officials negotiated in Belgrade with General Ratko Mladic, the Chief Executiv of the Republika Srpska Army General Staff; the negotiations didn’t give any result, the bombings continued; later that day, Republika Srpska Army’s a radar complex was targeted near Banja Luka (Lisina);
September 12th and 13th: the attacks are interrupted because of bad weather conditions;
September 14th 1995: it is agreed that the Republika Srpska Army should withdraw heavy weapons from the so-called Safety Zone; which is done up to September 17th;
Consequences: the Operation “Deliberate Force” represented the last NATO air campaign against Serbs in the Republika Srpska; NATO “interfered” in Bosnia through IFOR and later SFOR and took the complete control over military matters; according to Dayton Peace Agreement , all parties in BiH shall turn off the radars and not connect them without the approval of the multinational peacekeeping forces commander; all military flights including piston aircraft and military helicopters, are forbidden; the Republika Srpska Army grounded all their aircrafts and disconnected their air defence systems and radars; NATO has the supreme control of the entire airspace of Bosnia and Herzegovina ;
1999.
OPERATION “MERCIFUL ANGEL”
The operation “Deliberate Force” is only a prelude to the operation “Allied Force” from March24th until June 10th 1999 when the Kumanovo agreement is signed; with the control of the Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia airspace, the potential aggressor got provided the most important ways for the attack on Yugoslavia;
The bombings started at 8:00 pm on March 24th 1999; the order is issued by the NATO Secretary General Javier Solana; the action was called the whole time “humanitarian intervention”; the code name for the operation Allied Force is in the U.S. designated as Operation Noble anvil, in Serbia known as “Merciful Angel”; all NATO member states participated; about 1,000 aircrafts are engaged; most of them were taking off in Italy; during the bombings, 462 soldiers and over 2,000 civilians were killed; about 5,000 persons were injured; the NATO command called the victims “collateral damage”; some 200 cities and towns were bombed; depleted uranium and cluster bombs were used; on Serbian territory around 1000 cluster bombs were dropped on 219 locations in the area of 23 thousand square kilometers; infrastructure, commercial buildings, bridges, schools, churches, monasteries, hospitals, media, cultural monuments are badly damaged; the material damage is estimated to 30 billion dollars;
June 10th: the Kumanovo agreement was signed; NATO Secretary General Javier Solana stops air strikes, which lasted 78 days; close to 800 000 persons, mostly Albanians, left Serbia since the beginning of the aggression, and another 200,000 have sought shelter in Sumadija, Vojvodina and other parts of the republic; the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1244 welcoming the Yugoslav consent of the political solution, including an immediate end of violence and the rapid withdrawal of military, police and paramilitary forces; the resolution placed Kosovo under international administration and requires the creation and deployment of NATO peacekeeping force – KFOR;
March 24th: shortly after 8.00 pm, NATO began bombing Yugoslavia: the hit the airport in Batajnica , the Military Aviation Institute in Zarkovo and the Technical Academy in Belgrade, as well as targets in Kosovo and Metohija;
March 25th: the airport Lađevci is bombed, as well as Cetinje, Gračanica;
March 27th: the Yugoslav Air Force units shot down near the village Buđanovaci close to Ruma the American bomber F-117A, a “stealth” technology aircraft;
March 29th: the police building in Belgrade is bombed; the drug factory “Zdravlje” is targeted in Leskovac, the center of Pristina, the airport Golubovci near Podgorica;
March 30the: refugee camps near Nis and Pristina are bombed; 15 refugees died;
March 31st: cluster bombs are dropped on Pristina; Gracanica is targeted again with two missiles;
April 1st: at 5:00 am the Petrovaradin bridge is destroyed, connecting Novi Sad and Petrovaradin ;
April 2nd: attack on Kuršumlija; 13 civilians are killed and about 500 civilian and religious constructions damaged;
April 3rd: the Police building is bombed during the night in Belgrade ; at 7 :45 pm, the bridge “Sloboda” (Freedom) between Novi Sad and Sremska Kamenica is bombed;
April 4th: in New Belgrade the power plant is bombed ; in Cacak the factory « Sloboda » is targeted, and in Pancevo the oil refinery ;
April 5th: Beograd, Priština, Vranje, Leposavić, Niš, Lučani, Aleksinac, Sombor are bombed; the oil refinery in Novi Sad is damaged;
April 6th: the last bridge on Danube near Novi Sad is bombed;
April 7th: “Naftagas” in Novi Sad is targeted;
April 8th: the factory “Crvena zastava” in Kragujevac is bombed, 124 workers are injured;
April 9th: the center of Cuprija is bombed; in Smederevo the oil storage is destroyed;
April 10th: UCK attacks from the Albanian territory with the help of the Albanian army and NATO air force;
April 11th: heavy bombings in Kosovo and Metohija;
April 12th: a passenger train is attacked from the air in the Grdelica canyon on the railway Belgrade – Salonika; 10 passengers are killed, and among them a 10 year old boy; a dozen passengers are injured;
April 13th: the military hospital is bombed; a dozen patients are injured;
April 14th: NATO shelled four times a group of 400 Albanian refugees that was going back home near the village Madan; 72 civilians are killed, 35 injured;
April 15th: in Pancevo the oil refinery Petrohemija is bombed, as well as the one in Novi Sad; the bridge between Kovin and Smederevo is destroyed;
April 16th: the TV transmitter at Cer is targeted, as well as Priština, Podgorica, Kraljevo, Boljevac, Vranje;
April 17th: the factory “Krušik” in Valjevo is destroyed;
April 18th: the Executive Council of Vojvodina building in Novi Sad is severely damaged, the military-civilian airport Ponikve is attacked;
April 19th: Milica Rakic, a 3 year old girl, is killed in her house in Batajnica;
April 20th: the whole country is bombed – from Lipljane, over Novi Pazar, Kraljevo, to Batajnica and Belgrade;
April 21st: the Business Center “Usce” in Belgrade is bombed ; the bridge on the Danube near Beska is struck;
April 22nd: four missiles struck Yugoslav President’s, Slobodan Milosevic, residency in Belgrade, at 15 Uzicka street ; the Zezelj bridge in Novi Sad was bombed with four missiles, but is not destroyed ;
April 23rd: at 2:06 am, the Serbian Radio Television builiding is bombed; 16 persons are killed;
April 24th: the centre of Nis is targeted with 16 missiles; in Leskovac 500 houses are dammaged;
April 25th: the refinery in Novi Sad is bombed again;
April 26th: the Zezelj bridge on the Danube near Novi Sad is destroyed ;
April 27th: 20 civilians are killed, from which 12 children, in the Surdulica bombings;
April 28th: children’s hospital and maternity Clinical Hospital Center “Dragisa Misovic” is damaged;
April 29th: the Avala tower is targeted , as well as the antenna tower in Borca and relays across Serbia – on Fruska Gora, Ovcar Gobelja and Crni Vrh ;
April 30th: the old building of the Republic Ministry in downtown Belgrade is attacked, as well as the Ministry of Defence and General Quarters;
May 1st: near Luzane, a « Nis express » bus is struck on the bridge; 47 passangers are killed and 16 heavily injured ;
May 2nd: the units of the Yugoslav Air Force crashed an American fighter-bomber F-16 near Belgrade; pilot was saved by the American army rescue teams;
May 3rd: « Djakovica Prevoz » bus is bombed near Savina Voda, on the road Pec – Kula – Rozaje ; 20 civilians are killed, 43 persons injured ; the TV station in Novi Sad is targeted again ;
May 4th: the pilot Milenko Pavlovic, commander of the 204th aviation regiment, is killed above Valjevo in the “Mig 29”, known as one of army’s most capable pilots;
May 5th: the Greek humanitarian convoy is bombed near Urosevac, whose trip was announced in advance and was visibly marked as humanitarian;
May 6th: the railway bridge near Vatin on the railway Belgrade – Bucharest, is destroyed;
May 7th: Nis is bombed by cluster bombs ; 14 persons are killed, 70 injured ; Serbian electric power system is targeted with “Black out” bombs; the whole Serbia is in the dark;
May 8th: the Chinese embassy in Belgrade is bombed ; 3 persons are killed ; General Staff building, the Defence Ministry, the Serbian government, Ministry for Internal Affairs and the hotel Yugoslavia are targeted as well ;
May 9th: the humanitarian convoy from Romania is targeted;
May 10th: two streets in the village Medosevac near Nis are erased from the map; 20 houses completely destroyed, more than 100 heavily damaged;
May 11th: the vice president of the socialist party, Dusan Matkovic is injured, as well as the vice president of Republic’s Federal Council Assembly, Gorica Gajevic; the bridge over Lim in Murin is destroyed;
May 12th: Nis is targeted again;
May 13th: the TV building in Novi Sad is bombed again;
May 14th: in the village Koris near Prizren, civilians are bombed; more than 100 Albanian civilians are killed, mostly women, children and elder people; NATO used thermo visual bombs, developing a temperature up to 2 000 degrees Celsius after a strike;
May 15th: the mine smelting complex in Bor is bombed, one of the biggest copper mines in Europe;
May 16th: the “Jugopetrol” plant is targeted, as well as transformer stations within the factory “Sartida 1913” in Smederevo;
May 17th: the highway overpass on the highway Belgrade – Nis is destroyed; the hotel “Sumarice” in Knjazevac is bombed and the domes, a symbol for 7 300 WW2 innocent victims are destroyed;
May 19th: four civilians are killed and 16 injured in Gnjilane;
May 20th: at the Clinical Hospital Centre “Dragiša Mišović in Belgrade, three patients and one employee are killed, several patients are injured; the Neurological Clinic is destroyed and the explosion demolished the the Center for Children’s Pulmonary Diseases and Tuberculosis building as well as the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic;
May 21st: NATO bombed the correctional institution in Istok, killing dozens of inmates and staff of that institution; the Power Plants “Drmno” at Kostolac and “Kolubara” in Veliki Crljeni are targeted, as well as and the area around the hydroelectric factory in Bajina Basta; NATO used special high conductive fibers in order to cause short circuits;
May 22nd: all around Kosovo and Metohija around 100 missiles are dropped;
May 23rd: the power plant in Obrenovac is bombed again;
May 24th: electric power plants in Kostolac, Novi Sad and Nis are targeted;
May 25th: the Serbian TV and Radio Yugoslavia transmitters are targeted in Zvecka near Obrenovac, as well as Radio Belgrade emission centre;
May 26th: three people are killed and two injured during the bombings of Kosovska Vitina;
May 29th: downtown Curpija is targeted with 10 missiles; the railway and bus station are damaged, as well as two shopping centres and the plant “Froteks” in Uzice, and the TV transmitter in Ponikve.
May 30th: the bridge over Velika Morava river near Varvarin is destroyed ; 11 civilians are killed, 40 are heavily injured; special hospital for turbeculosis patients is struck, as well as the nursing home, two pavillons in the refugee centre in Surdulica; 17 children and older people are killed; a journalists convoy is bombed near Prizren, several people are injured;
May 31st: more than 100 tombs in the orthodox cemetery in Pristina are either damaged either destroyed;
June 1st: 13 people injured in Novi Pazar in a dwelling house;
June 2nd: a TV transmitter between Srbobran and Sirig is hit; a TV Kraljevo transmitter is destroyed on the mountain Kotlenik; and in the village Lipe near Smederevo, NATO hit a house and injured two children;
June 3rd: a bridge over Beli Drim is destroyed, linking the municipalities of Djakovica, Orahovac and Prizren;
June 10th: the Kumanovo agreement was signed; NATO Secretary General Javier Solana stops air strikes, which lasted 78 days; close to 800 000 persons, mostly Albanians, left Serbia since the beginning of the aggression, and another 200,000 have sought shelter in Sumadija, Vojvodina and other parts of the republic; the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1244 welcoming the Yugoslav consent of the political solution, including an immediate end of violence and the rapid withdrawal of military, police and paramilitary forces; the resolution placed Kosovo under international administration and requires the creation and deployment of NATO peacekeeping force – KFOR;
SOURCE: why NATO ?
vostaniserbie 